Selby's spectacular show came after China's big hope Ding Junhui suffered a shock opening-round exit in the afternoon session.

Ding was coming off his triumph in the PTC Grand Final, that earned him £100,000 and seemed to signal the former UK and Masters champion was back to his best.

"John Higgins, Ding Junhui and Judd Trump are out but there's still a lot of great players left" - Neil Robertson

However Ding was well beaten today by England's Barry Hawkins, beginning a fightback from 4-0 behind to gain respectability before losing 5-3.

There was further home disappointment as Lyu Haotian also went out, going down 5-2 to two-time world champion Mark Williams, while Mark Davis ground out a 5-3 success over Thailand's Dechawat Poomjaeng.

Australian Neil Robertson, the 2010 world champion who was runner-up to Ding in the PTC Grand Final earlier this month, was a ruthless 5-0 winner against his Bexhill-based namesake Jimmy Robertson.

Neil Robertson is eyeing his first major title since last year's Masters, a wait of over 14 months, and the draw could be clearing to his advantage.

"John Higgins, Ding Junhui and Judd Trump are out but there's still a lot of great players left," Robertson said on worldsnooker.com.

"My season has been very consistent, the only thing missing is a major win. I'm just hoping to maintain my form and to get a bit of luck.

"In the past I wasn't getting to many semis or finals, but when I got there I was winning them. This season I've got to the latter stages a lot but lost three close finals. It's not that I'm failing to finish matches off, I just haven't had the luck that I've had in finals in the past."

Northern Ireland's Mark Allen had a best break of 129 in his 5-1 victory over Scotland's Anthony McGill, while China's bad day got worse late in the evening when Liang Wenbo tumbled out, losing 5-3 to England's Stuart Bingham.

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